“A Thousand Traps to Escape” is a temporary installation designed by 13 students from Laval University under Olivier Bourgeois in the Magdalen Islands in Quebec, Canada. The project builds on the collaboration of themes of architecture, art, landscape and installation in the creation of space based on simple materials, the landscape and “the basic rules of construction”. The “local material” chosen for this construction is the ubiquitous lobster trap made of wood and fishnet. Its formal simplicity allowed for an basic stacking technique that produced relatively complex visual results of transparencies and opacities.

Read on for more information on the development of this project.

The group chose a concept based on the ideas proposed by Krystina Tremblay’s and Olivier Lord’s during a design “workshop”; the drive for the construction was one that exploits the site’s characteristics and the constraints of the material. The horizontality and fluidity of the sea inspired two main lines of the structure, creating a duality of themes. “Approaching the structure, the visitor perceives a long barrier, similar to the dune protective sand fencing. He is then brought to walk along the stacked traps, enfolded between the fishnet visual filter, sand dune and the red sandstone cliff. The path leads to end with to a circular enclosure, a space of gathering and evasion within these thousand traps.” - Olivier Bourgeois

When stacked and layered, the resulting pavilion creates an protective enclosure from the wind, while still offering views of the sea and dunes. The circular enclosure produced the perfect arena for a musical night around the fire. “The members of the group and some locals benefited of this installation for a memorable musical night around the fire. At dusk, the aged wood and fishnet merged visually with the beach sand, while contrasting sharply with the cliffs.”

The project was completed in five days, from transportation to dismantling the installation. This project epitomizes the spontaneous and temporary generation of space for community use, while being efficient in construction techniques, construction materials, and design innovation.